Follow You Down
by siennaxnoelle
Summary: Puck's fellow football players bet him that he can't convince resident school-freak Rachel Berry to attend homecoming with him. It all sounds pretty easy to him. Until it isn't. A/U- Quinn isn't pregnant… some F/R but eventually a Puckleberry.


**Follow You Down**

_Summary: _Puck's fellow football players bet him that he can't convince resident school-freak Rachel Berry to attend homecoming with him. It all sounds pretty easy to him. Until it isn't. A/U- Quinn isn't pregnant… some F/R but eventually a Puckleberry.

_Author's Note:_ So this is my first ever attempt at a chaptered fic… I'll probably end up switching up the point of view a lot, but I'll try to always be clear when I do. I'm sorry if they're a bit out of character. I tried to keep the basics together but for the purposes of the story, I need everyone to be a tiny bit less neurotic. I hope you enjoy!

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**Chapter 1**

Cherry. She hated cherry. Really, she had hoped that her sophomore year would bring many new experiences her way… but this wasn't exactly what she had in mind when she dreamed of 'refreshing opportunities'.

Getting a daily slushie facial from a football player was not particularly special. In fact, there were a number of kids in William McKinley high school who received them nearly as frequently as she did.

But no one, I repeat, _no one _got the attention of Noah 'Puck' Puckerman like she did.

She wasn't really sure why it had started. There had been rumors that she was his assigned target for football hazing… or maybe it was because she had refused to kiss him when they were nine years old back at the Jewish Community Center pool.

Whatever the reason, Rachel Barbra Berry had been getting a slushie facial from him every single day since the first day she entered high school. It had gotten to the point where she had started keeping a shower caddy in her locker at school filled with all the products she would need to get the syrupy ice out of her hair.

After all, a future star could not be seen covered in a slushie… it was just not acceptable practice for when the paparazzi would shadow her every move.

Sighing, she grabbed the caddy and a bag of spare clothes from her locker before trudging off to the bathroom for yet another morning of wiping corn syrup from her face.

* * *

$448.20. That was how much money Puck spent on slushies to throw in Rachel Berry's face per school year. $2.49 for 180 days… 180 slushies.

Sure, Puck never went to some of his classes (like math, seriously he was pretty sure the teacher didn't know what he looked like). But he _never _outright missed a day of school, because that would mean ruining his perfect slushie record.

He tossed the empty cup into the garbage can at the end of the hall—a perfect shot—before opening his locker. He could see Berry out of the corner of his eye as she grabbed her ridiculous assortment of herbal shampoos.

To be honest, he had no idea why he was such a nazi about giving Berry her daily slushie facial. She had become eerily good at showering and re-doing her hair in the limited time she had. Not to mention, ever since she had started bringing a change of clothes, the evidence that he slushied her was almost always immediately gone.

But still… for some reason he couldn't help but enjoy the sight of the colored ice flying at her and the way she actually shut up for a change when it hit her in the face. And he always enjoyed seeing her wander around in a different one of those ridiculous animal sweaters than she had come into school with.

Smirking, he walked towards his locker and high-fived a couple football players. One of the freshmen on the team guffawed behind him, trying to look like he was in on the joke.

Quinn Fabray walked by, Santana and Brittany trailing behind her. He tipped his chin up at Santana as she passed by and winked. She scowled, but he was pretty sure she had started swinging her hips a little more as they walked away. He was so getting laid later.

He nodded at Finn from across the hall as the quarterback grabbed his books from his locker. Puck and Finn had been best friends for a long time—long enough that Puck could tell something was making the kid jittery.

He followed Finn's gaze to the girls' bathroom, where Berry was already emerging in another one of those tiny skirts and an oxford shirt of all things (seriously, how the _fuck _did she shower and do her hair that fast?). Finn smiled stupidly—one of those goofy grins of his that makes you feel like you're looking at a baby animal.

It made Puck want to run something over. Preferably a baby animal. But from what he could see, it made Berry blush and return her own little grin. The smile did something weird to Puck's stomach… seeing her happy just went so against the grain for him that it physically made his stomach turn.

So maybe _that _was why Finn had been spending all his time being a princess with the other freaks in glee club.

On second thought, it seemed as though that was _definitely _the reason considering Berry was now walking over to Finn's locker. He almost cringed. His best friend looked like a nervous twelve year old about to go to the movies with a girl he liked for the first time—not like the boyfriend of the most popular girl in school.

He tried to see if their conversation would carry, but the hall was too loud and that idiot freshman was still laughing like a hyena behind him. He smacked the kid in the back of the head with a "dude, shut up", trying to catch anything they were saying.

It was to no avail. The only thing Puck managed to get was her mouthing 'after practice' or some shit like that as she walked away—that stupid plaid skirt swaying (it was too bad she was such a freak; the schoolgirl thing could have almost been hot).

He knew Glee Club didn't have practice today—football was practicing and Schuster couldn't afford to have Glee practice if Finn wouldn't be there—so that must mean they were planning something for after football.

Puck suddenly realized how enormously gay it was that he was sitting here speculating about what _Rachel Berry _was doing after school with Finn when he could just walk ten feet down the hall and ask.

So he did. Obviously.

"Yo, Finn," he called as he approached his best friend (who was _still_ totally staring after Rachel Berry like a blind man who had just seen the sun for the first time) "The hell were you talking to Berry about?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Rachel?" said Finn, still looking a bit lost in his thoughts, "Oh… um… nothing man, you know, glee stuff. That's all."

"Really," Puck snorted skeptically, "'cause I thought I heard her say something about 'after practice'." He raised an eyebrow.

Finn _blushed._ The idiot actually blushed. And stuttered. If he wasn't so curious, he probably would have punched Finn in the nuts just to remind him that he had some. Although apparently he already knew that if he was actually cheating on Quinn fucking Fabray with Rachel I-Put-Gold-Stars-Next-To-My-Name Berry… which he was starting to think was the case.

"Look man, Rach is… I don't know… she's kinda cool… in a weird way. And she's really, really nice. We're friends. It's whatever." Finn pushed himself away from the locker and started down the hall with his math book.

"Don't suppose you're going to come to math one of these days?" he asked with a grin that suggested he already knew the answer.

Puck stared.

"Yeah, didn't think so." Finn laughed before he turned around and walked down the hall, leaving his best friend questioning why his stomach was still flipping from a smile that wasn't even directed at him.

* * *

Rachel sat at her desk in math, placing her pens and pencils neatly on the desk (she always made sure to carry extras; it was a good habit for when she was famous and people would be asking for autographs). She knew it was silly, but she liked to look like the model of perfection when Finn walked into the classroom and sat at his desk [one over to the right and one seat up from her].

It made her feel a little bit better that Quinn Fabray was not in this class; she liked having time in class where she did not have to endure a straight hour of the head cheerio's taunting.

I mean, seriously, RuPaul? That's the best they could come up with?

Finn slid into the classroom much later than usual, to her chagrin. He was usually a few minutes early. It was dumb that she got as excited as she did over a few minutes of time to talk to him; but nevertheless, she missed that time a lot when he wasn't in class.

He smiled his goofy smile at her when he sat down and she instantly melted a bit. It was nothing compared to a moment later, however, when he whispered that he was really excited for after practice today before turning around.

For the thousandth time, she lamented that Puck always showed up to the first day of classes to claim a seat (which he honestly never used). He had—unfortunately—taken the seat next to her and Mr. Burke was a stickler for staying true to the seating chart.

This meant that the empty desk stood as a buffer between Finn and her, which made talking to him that much more difficult.

Not that things had been going badly lately, if that fact that he had invited her over to his house for dinner after he got out of football practice was any indication.

She felt a slight twinge of discomfort at the thought that he was having her over for dinner while he was still dating Quinn, but most of her was too consumed with excitement to really care.

Her mind wandered, for a moment, to the empty desk next to her. Noah Puckerman. Although even she could not deny that he was—well—an _Adonis_, she still disliked him. He was cocky, chauvinistic, and he threw frozen ice at her every single day for absolutely no reason.

As Mr. Burke began his lecture for that day, she considered that it was probably a good thing that Noah Puckerman never came to math class. She didn't need the headache.

* * *

Rachel Berry was at football practice. Even though he had come to the conclusion that Finn and her were hanging out after practice today, he had never really considered that she would be around.

He had noticed that Finn seemed a bit distracted all practice (like really, Tanaka had made him run upwards of fifteen laps) but it wasn't until they hit the showers that Puck noticed how weird Finn was being.

He got dressed up. Nothing too special—honestly it wasn't even that dressy an outfit. He was only wearing jeans and a button-up. But Finn didn't do button-ups. He did t-shirts or the same sweatshirt.

And then he saw her.

She was leaning against the rail at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the bleachers… and she wasn't wearing one of her ugly sweaters or her stupid neon cardigans.

She almost looked normal in a pair of jeans and a simple black v-neck. If he were being honest, she almost looked good. But she was also Rachel Berry, and that had to count for something.

He watched from narrowed eyes as Finn practically sprinted over to her. She was smiling that stupid smile again as he lead her off the field towards the parking lot—the one that tied his stomach in knots. Her being happy really sucked.

"It's disgusting, isn't it?" Azimio questioned. He hadn't really noticed his teammate behind him until now.

"What? Watching Finn chase after that little freak while he's got Quinn Fabray?" asked Puck with a snort.

"I don't know," Azimio said as he stepped next to Puck. "She's kinda hot for a freak. Maybe it's the skirts."

At this, Puck flat-out laughed.

"Oh please, Rachel Berry is not hot… and even if she was it's completely erased by how weird she is. Plus she follows Hudson around like a lost puppy."

"Sounds to me like you're a bit jealous, Puckerman," a new voice sounded from somewhere to his right.

"As if, Karofsky. Rachel Berry makes me want to light myself on fire. I just feel bad for Finn. Must be annoying to have her panting after you." Puck replied, a minor sneer forming on his face.

"Don't be so harsh, Puckerman. I bet she's not as desperate as you think," said Azimio slowly, "She probably wouldn't get with you."

"Is that a joke? Everyone wants a piece of the Puckasaurus. If she'll go for Hudson, she'd definitely go for me." Puck wasn't sure why he was getting so riled up about this whole thing, but at the moment it was very high on his list of priorities to make sure Karofsky and Azimio knew that he was a way bigger stud than Finn Hudson.

"Dude, I bet you couldn't get her to go out with you if you tried." Azimio continued, enjoying Puck's obvious irritation.

"Why would I _want _to go out with her? Did you miss the part where she's a freak? I throw slushies at her every single day. The end."

Karofsky grinned. "Exactly, man. I bet you can't convince Rachel Berry to go to homecoming with you."

"Are you questioning my badassness?" he asked, astounded. "That's not even an issue. Consider it done. Rachel Berry _will _go to homecoming with me if it's the last damn thing I do."

Which you know, shit, it might be.

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A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. It's kind of a prologue and the second one should be up soon. Reviews are greatly appreciated and constructive criticism is always helpful! And I'm sorry if there are any glaring errors—I don't have a beta :(.

.sienna xo


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